The Good News about Growth | Nick Bodine + Central Live | Central Church

well welcome to central where it's okay to not be okay i'm nikki and thank you for watching this experience today be sure to connect with us by dropping a comment below or you can always go to central.family for events going on right now now don't forget we go live every weekend right here on youtube so you can hit that subscribe button and get notifications for when we go live and when we upload new content for now we have an incredible experience in store for you so check it out when night has fallen when fear is coming still you're calling me when faith is lost my hope exhausting you will be my strength says is [Music] my [Music] i'm not good enough come on you better believe it i've decided all day you won't give up on me [Music] let go like an echo [Music] come [Music] all right central we've been teaching you some central lives music over the last few weeks we've got another one it's called counting on you [Music] you've shown me [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] do you called me [Music] is oh [Music] oh [Music] and nothing is [Music] is [Music] i'm counting on you when you do you oh do [Music] you need a pattern that pattern keeps you on track it tells you what you need to do next and it helps you form the blanket later on the bible is like our pattern for life it'll keep you on track and you'll be able to go through life whether it's through the hurts or the pains or the joys and the laughter that bible is going to help you deal with all of that my name is faye ewell i was born in 1952 and western new york to a very abusive family i had a very hard hard childhood but for some reason and i don't know how god was there always with me he always was protecting me and guiding me i had my first daughter at 15 my mother made me marry the man soon after that i would say probably a year i was just searching for anything and i fell into another marriage and that marriage also was abusive finally one day i said i couldn't take the verbal abuse anymore and i left now with my third husband he was the love of my life we had a lot of problems god was still there god helped me many many many times but i still didn't have that foundation that what do i do how do i bring god closer i saw this church this church was just unbelievable and when he went into the rehab in california i decided to come to central and i came in fell in love with it i came every single weekend and then when my husband got out of rehab he decided to come with me we came to church every saturday he decided at towards a certain time that he needed to take care of alcoholism in another way to have some more help and when he did i said all right let's take care of my gambling also we both went to cr and we completed cr step study and uh we tithed and our blessings started coming like you can't believe the friendships that we made here we both became leaders of groups and um just everything was so good and between that and church and retirement and just just traveling just doing everything and then one day came that we were going to go to catalina on monday and he decided to go out to the lake to check the sailboat to make sure it was tied down and protected when he got out there he said to the boat beside him you know it's a good day i think i'll go out and have a short sale and he didn't return they found the boat the next day i've gone through a lot of hardship through this because there is no such thing as a death certificate when a person is missing but the hope here i heard god tell me that i will laugh again that i will smile again and that he's there for me and he will give me strength and because of central all the people here gathered around me and when i look back on that i think about how strong how strong the faith i have gotten now i have now i know the book now i know the word of god i have the protection i have the peace and i can wear god's armor with me and the people are with me all the time not only just jesus not only the holy spirit but the people of this church are with me it's amazing thank you fay so much for sharing your story and i'm actually sitting out here with a very special person from the central family would you please help me welcome jackie young to the stage i first got to know jackie back in november of 2019 a group of us got a special once in a life opportunity to go to israel and experience the holy land back when you could actually leave the country on a plane um but uh it was awesome getting to know jackie jackie first came to central when she was in high school invited by a group of friends showed up to our central youth program gave her life to jesus and got baptized right here at central but i know things in your life kind of took a turn at one point tell us a little bit more about that yeah after that i wasn't really living a life following jesus i got kind of caught up in the vegas lifestyle got married young and was pretty successful in my career but through that kind of got sucked into that vegas life and partying and things like that and really kind of fell away from god um yeah and then at some point i know that uh you were kind of down and needed some help in your life and you showed up to central and the first thing you found was community tell the central family a little bit more about your story there yeah during that time that kind of led to my marriage ending and going through a divorce and it was really the lowest my lowest point and i felt very lost and alone and broken and i randomly got an email randomly got an email from somebody here at central inviting me to join a group and those ladies just lifted me up and loved on me and really showed me um what it really means to be loved like jesus loves us and it really changed my life helped me grow in my faith they pointed me back to god and really just didn't even know me but loved me anyway and really helped me get plugged in and i started serving and giving financially and really just got started to change my life through all of that that's incredible and i know at some point too yeah i can give it up for jackie i know at some point too you're working in a a corporate job very successful things are going great and god calls you to join the team here at central and uh be a part so you can be a blessing back to people tell us a little bit more about your story even in your own generosity too yeah i never thought that was going to happen that god was going to call me out of that career and the opportunity to be a part of this team at central i get to lead this auditorium team can you just give it up for your ushers and greeters in this room every week they just serve here to make you guys feel welcome and love so appreciate you guys um but that my income changed significantly through that transition but i felt really passionately about continuing to give the same tithe that i was giving previously because this place changed my life and i would not be who i am today or where i am today if it wasn't for the people of central the generosity of central and so i'm a product of this church and as long as yeah as long as god will let me i'm going to continue to give back to the people of central because of what they've given me and hopefully other people be able to experience the life change that i've experienced through this place through that generosity well i love the fact that god used the ministries of central to help rescue you and now you're rescuing others you were rescued to be a rescuer jackie young thank you so much for all you do here at central we appreciate you [Applause] well we've come to the time in our experience where we have the privilege and the opportunity to give back to god financially just a portion of what he's blessed us with with our tithes and our offerings and i want you to know if you have yet to get in the game if you have yet to step up in this area of your own life the best and easiest way to jump in is just by becoming a generosity rock star what is a generosity rockstar it's someone who gives a minimum of twenty dollars reoccurring online it's really easy to sign up you can go to central.family in your web browser and click give a gift in fact this is how my family gives to central church as well out in our lobby at the end of our experience if you're one of our locations you can give by credit or debit card at all of our exits on your way out you can give by check or cash but thank you for the difference that these gifts are going to make in so many hearts and lives would you pray with me and let's ask god to bless these resources god we thank you so much for this church thank you for stories like faye for stories like jackie who experienced just an opportunity to be rescued from the life they were living and now they're rescuing others god we're so grateful for what they're doing and how you change the outcome of their lives and i pray that because of a gift that's given here today that another heart and life would be changed for eternity we love you god and we thank you for it's in your name we pray and everybody said together amen at this time i'd like to invite you to stand central live has been introducing some brand new original songs and we're going to sing those together as a church family today god i believe you're doing something new though in the wasteland [Music] heavens on the moon open my eyes to seek the glory of the lord open my eyes to see the glory of the lord open my eyes to see your glory [Music] is [Music] view the lord open my [Music] of eyes lord opened my eyes open my eyes to see your glory [Music] i don't live by what i see i walk by faith and what i believe your word is god every day i choose [Music] is god every day you were crucified then you rose from the darkness to give eternal life i know it's no longer [Music] [Music] i'll be with you in paradise [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] eyes to see [Music] come on church glory of the lord one of my favorite stories in the bible i've shared it here at central church before but it's found in the old testament which is the first half of the bible in the book of second kings it's early in the morning and this man named elisha is woken up by his servant and his servant says you're not going to believe this elisha but there's a vast army on the horizon coming to take us down and they outnumber us and elisha in that moment doesn't even have to think he just closes his eyes and he prays and he says god i ask that you would open the eyes of my servant and help him to know that you are with us and when his servant opens his eyes he sees these chariots and horses of fire surrounding the hilltops and god uses this band of angel armies to blind the enemy so that they can't defeat israel you know i love the aspect of this story that even though elisha's servant was awake he wasn't aware and sometimes we go through life awake but we're not aware that god is doing something maybe in the background maybe on this side but i want you to know this god has not forgotten about you if you feel like you're up against a wall if you feel like you're up against a battle god is with you right in the middle of that i pray that today you would be aware that god is ever present in your time of trouble let's sing this course together come on [Music] the glory of the lord [Applause] [Music] bring your burdens [Music] we don't need them anymore cause we are standing in the presence of the lord god is in this house god is in this house and that's all that matters now that's all that matters now be forgiven [Music] be restored [Music] god is in this house and that's all that matters that's all that matters [Music] is in this house anybody believe that come on god is in this house [Music] anything can happen now in the name of jesus [Music] is [Music] of jesus god is in this house god is in this house [Music] [Music] [Music] god is in this house [Music] bring your burdens [Music] we don't [Music] anybody believe that today come on [Music] last night i was in a restaurant and uh this individual who goes to central came up to me and said hey you know here's my story here's what i'm going through i'm going through a very abusive relationship and i met her friend who's about to get married in september and it was right there in the middle of that restaurant that we just we stopped and we prayed together and i just remember saying amen and looking at them both tears in their eyes completely different stories because of that prayer an individual who was working at the restaurant sought to and he came up to me and talked about what a horrible life he had growing up and he's been faced with some depression and suicidal thoughts and he asked would you also pray with me too and so right there in the middle of that restaurant it's just like this big old prayer circle going on [Music] we're singing this song god is in this house and yes this is a house of worship but it doesn't have to just end here church family you can bring god home with you he can go with you in your car he can go with you in your workplaces he can meet you in the middle of a restaurant the most unlikely circumstances just keep your heart open to him we want to take a moment today we do this every weekend right here at central we pray for our church family many people walk through our doors maybe with a smile on their face but if we were honest deep inside we're hurting and we need god's help we want to pray for you wherever you're at if we can just pray for you today would you boldly slip your hand up in the air i know this may be weird but just raise your hand up high if we can pray for you and if you're next to somebody with their hand raised don't encourage you to just stretch your hand out towards them you don't have to touch them let's just pray let's ask god to do what only he can do god we come before you today many of us may never know the story of the person next to us but god we know that you haven't forgotten about us in our anxiety and our depression and our anger and our addictions and our relationships and our workplaces god you were there and so i pray that today lord that we would we would experience life change that we would experience your holy spirit whatever we're going through god may you just remind us today that you haven't forgotten about us lord thank you for being a good god thank you for your son jesus and the sacrifice he made on the cross for us we love you god and we praise you for it's in your name we pray and everyone said together amen [Music] god you're so good would you sing that come on god you're so good oh god you're so good you're so good [Music] god [Music] you're so good [Music] is [Music] you're so good [Music] god [Music] good you're so good [Music] too me come on somebody let's give god some praise today in this room he is a good guy he's not forgotten about you i believe somebody's gonna experience life in this room today god is good everybody say it god is good come on church family god is good welcome everyone so glad that you're here with us this weekend i was thinking this last week just how much i love this church i love that we get to gather from different locations all over the world i love that we get to gather with central family inside their living rooms on mobile devices i love that we get individuals who are incarcerated a part of the central family through our partnership with god behind bars thank you so much for being with us i i love that we get to grow together we get to worship together we get to embody this statement it's okay to not be okay and all of us are just running after jesus together right do you love this church as much as i love this church so incredible hope you had a great week i had a really good week partly because i got to watch a lot of olympics this last week does anybody else love the olympics the olympic games so incredible i love having it on in the background of the house the second that that olympic anthem drum gets going that boom boom boom boom like i'm inspired i'm ready to go like let's do this watch these athletes that i get to live vicariously through they've trained their whole lives for this one moment this one race and they are incredible athletes but i will say it's hard to know just how incredible they are when they're racing just as incredible athletes from around the world right like when these races come down to just milliseconds separating them it's hard to know just how incredible each individual is i saw this social media post going around that i have to agree with that said i wish every olympic sport i wish every olympic event had just one average person competing so we could have some context on how incredible these olympians are right like just give me that one average guy so i know just how fast just how strong these olympic athletes are james corden the host of the the late late show he had a similar idea he wanted to know how fast the fastest man in the world was in context and so does anybody remember usain bolt usain bolt fastest man in the world he invited him out to his studio out to the parking lot of his studio and he had him do a hundred meter sprint against his friends and his co-workers i have the video of the race right here check this out just how fast usain bolt is so it starts out he's automatically in the lead he looks like he's slightly jogging he's not even taking this seriously he's not even in a full sprint even though everyone else is wins by a mile here comes james corden up in the very back but it gives us context right just how fast the fastest man in the world is but these olympians they're incredible they really are incredible athletes and this last week i kind of wanted to research just how they got their start i kind of did a deep dive into how olympic how olympians just get going how how they get started what were the first steps that they took so if you've ever wanted to be an olympian yourself today you're in luck because i'm gonna give you your first five steps into becoming an olympian the very first thing the internet says is that you need to assess your physical fitness so for many of us we're already out right like i am not in olympic shape so i'm out number two choose your sport it says many of these athletes have been in their sport since they were in elementary school since they were in primary school so it says if you're over the age 30 consider archery shooting or curling you have three things that take no cardio no endurance so if anybody wants to start a curling team i'm in with you let's do it let's go the olympics number three prepare for long-term training they say 1100 hours a year if you took no days off that's three hours a day of training of working out that is a lot of preparation number four keep your job you have to keep an income coming in because you have to pay for coaching equipment travel so three hours a day training also keep a good job good luck with that and number five have the dream i thought this was funny the very last thing is have the dream don't you feel like have the dream should be the very first thing if you're gonna go through all of that so there you go you want to start the path to becoming an olympic athlete i've given you your first five steps but it's a lot of work right these athletes have to put in the money the hours the training and ultimately the pain the changing and the growing in their sport or craft their growth to the olympics is a long and it's an extreme process but growth in general is a process and today we're going to talk about just that the good news about growth but don't stress out i'm not trying to get you ready to be an olympic athlete i'm not going to shame you on your fitness level today today we're going to be in romans 12. and romans 12 is where we will conclude this summer series journeying through romans because romans 12 is a graduation chapter it's a growth chapter and to set us up on the big idea of romans 12 i want to start by looking at romans 12 1. the verse is going to come up on the screen and when we get to the red word say them out loud now every once in a while i like to throw you a curveball i like to put the red words right up front just to make sure you're with me so romans 12 1 says and so dear brothers and sisters i plead with you to give your bodies to god because of all he has done for you let them be a living and holy sacrifice the kind he will find acceptable this is truly the way to worship him so out of everything we could have focused on in this verse why do i have and so as the red words why are we focusing on and so right now well i think it's important when we're reading the word that we put into context everything the bible says every word the bible says that we look at the intentionality behind words i know when i'm reading my bible i could quickly just skip over an answer and just get to the rest of the verse right so why is this and so here this and so wouldn't be here for just any reason this and so is here because it refers to something previously said right that's the only reason you would start a sentence with and so so what's paul the author of romans referring to well he's referring to the previous 11 chapters he just wrote about he's referring to all the good news that we've covered over the last several weeks throughout this good news series the good news about jesus the good news about life change the good news about faith and joy and freedom the good news about our future the good news about god's love and last week lori wilheit brought an incredible message about the good news about redemption and this whole series has been about how god's grace changes everything and if you missed any of that good news you can go on our app you can go on our youtube channel you can watch all of them on demand but paul says and so based on all that good news god's given us when you take everything into account that i've written to you in the previous 11 chapters he's saying church i'm pleading with you i'm urging you i'm begging you out of all the things we've covered you should be graduating to a new level now present your life to god the one who can change your life yes here's what i don't believe i don't believe that when it comes to jesus that any of us just like standing still we like doing nothing we have a desire to grow right we want to grow but here's the deal to grow we have to be willing to change because you can't grow without change now you can change without growing but you can't grow without changing it's all about moving forward it's all about growing so how do we do that how do we grow into the person that god made each of us to be well you start by letting him change your mind change your mind one of the not so fun parts of my summer that i got to deal with was my landscaping and just to give you a little journey on my landscaping a little background the previous home that we came from had a lot of high maintenance landscaping and what do i mean by that it had a lot of bushes and trees that were made more for a tropical environment it had real grass not this fake turf stuff it took a lot of fertilizer it took a lot of watering to keep it alive in fact this whole yard took a lot of water to keep alive here in the desert in fact my water bill was just always out the roof just trying to keep these plants alive so when we got an opportunity to move into a different home and we got the opportunity to choose the landscaping for this home i said i want low maintenance i don't want to bring this high maintenance landscaping over to the next house i want low maintenance i want easy i want a lower water bill i don't want to be paying this high water bill anymore so that's what we did we talked to families and family and friends and everybody suggested you go with desert landscaping just go with desert landscaping it makes sense you live in the desert get plants that are native to that area it'll be lower maintenance well our front yard doesn't have a whole lot of opportunity for different plants it's a lot of concrete sidewalk there's not a whole lot of plant opportunity but there's this one spot there's this focal point that just was right for the perfect cactus like if you just picked out the perfect thing to go right in that focal point just a strong tall beautiful cactus it would just make the front yard look great so laura and i we went cactus hunting we wanted something strong something beautiful hopefully something not a whole lot of money and we could put it right there in the front yard and the idea was that it would be low maintenance well we bought we went out we found it the perfect cactus got it home i didn't plan it myself because i don't have a green thumb and i wanted this thing to outlive me so i called a a buddy over that's a landscaper and i just said i need your help getting this planted he helped me plant helped get the soil all right help me get the sprinkler timer adjusted and off he went well two months go by and this plant this cactus does not look like it did on day one it is starting to look weaker it's starting to look a little feeble so i'm like well based on my last yard i just need to give it a little bit more water than it's currently giving so every single day or not every day two times a week i went out and just gave it a little bit more water i hand watered this cactus well a couple months go by it's starting to look worse so i called my landscaper buddy up i said you need to come over here i need some help this thing is not looking great i need your help fixing the direction this cactus is going he came over he's like i think you have a watering problem i'm like that's what i thought so he went to the sprinkler box he made some adjustments and off he went well i'm thinking we have a watering problem i'm going to increase my hand watering to three or four times a week we're just going to pick this up a little bit a couple months go by same drill still looking bad i call him up he comes over still a watering problem make some adjustments i pick up my hand watering to once a day at this point because this thing is not low maintenance it's taking a lot of water this is a thirsty cactus a couple months go by we're now into the winter and this thing isn't looking great at all i call my landscaper buddy up he comes over apparently cactus don't like the desert winters they don't like the cold so you have to wrap it in a blanket when it gets cold are you kidding low maintenance and i have to give this cactus a blanket in the winter this is not the idea we had in mind oh and we still have a watering problem so he made some adjustments he left i picked up my hand watering to two times a day once in the morning once at night thinking i'm gonna help save this cactus spring comes along this cactus is dead like it is awful it looks awful it's making the front yard look awful i finally concede i call up my landscaper buddy i'm like you got to come over we got to switch this thing out we got to dig this one up we got to put a new cactus in and he comes over he's standing on the front driveway with me and we're looking at this cactus and he's like i just don't get it i'm like you don't get what he's like the last time i was here i shut the water completely off to this thing and it's still getting too much water wait it's too much water i was the one unknowingly responsible for slowly killing this cactus i was trying to take the growth the health the future of this plant into my own hands i wasn't relying on the much more qualified landscaper to be the caretaker and i ended up killing it well romans 1 and 2 it gives us similar advice when it comes to who we put in charge of our change a similar warning when it comes to growth in our own lives let's pull back up romans 12 1 and this time let's look at it with romans 12 2. says and so dear brothers and sisters i plead with you to give your bodies to god because of all he has done for you let them be a living and holy sacrifice the kind he will find acceptable this is truly the way to worship him don't copy the behavior and customs of this world but let god transform you into a new person by changing the way you think then you will learn to know god's will for you which is good and pleasing and perfect paul gives us such incredible insight into growth and change in these two verses in fact he gives us three big ideas that we can take away here when it comes to change the very first thing he says is give your bodies give your bodies to god that's to say this is a personal thing change is personal how is it personal not because we do the changing because god does the changing but what's the personal part we give our bodies to him to do the changing the next thing he says is it's a process by changing the way you think i want you to notice that paul didn't say let him change the way you think he said changing the way you think other translations say the renew wing of your mind it's a process you don't all of a sudden just arrive at a brand new way to think just because you name jesus your lord and savior doesn't mean you all of a sudden arrive at a new level of spiritual maturity it is a process and the last thing he says is that it's possible it is possible you will learn to know god's will for you which is good and pleasing and perfect it is possible for you to know god's will for your life which by the way is good it's pleasing is perfect so the big idea we have to understand from these verses is that change is personal it's a process but it's possible and here's how it looks when applying these verses to our own lives to our own growth first it's personal not because you're doing the changing like i just said but because you're allowing god to do the change paul is saying don't let the world mold you into itself don't let it suck you in and make you who it wants you to be allow god to do the changing give him your growth your transformation your change give it to the one who is the perfect caretaker the expert god can transform you but you have to be the one to present yourself to him it's a personal decision next is a process change takes place in your mind your mind and your heart they're so connected aren't they in fact they're so connected that sometimes the bible will use the word mind and it will use the word heart to mean the exact same thing proverbs 23 gives us an example of this it says as a man thinks in his heart as a man thinks in his heart if we want change to happen in our lives we have to saturate our minds with his word it's the reason we don't just go to the bible when we're struggling we don't just dive into the word when we're going through a hard time no we're to dive into his word daily so that we continue to renew or to change our mind another way we can saturate saturate ourselves in the word is to gather together weekly we gather for worship we gather for teaching it's one of the big reasons every single week we say keep showing up just keep showing up we gather together weekly to encourage one another and to saturate our minds on a message of hope it's all a part of how we renew our thinking together how we renew our minds we saturate ourselves in god's word and then lastly this verse is telling us that change is possible and his will for our lives is good it's pleasing is perfect i think sometimes we think god is withholding the things that we want right if i'm single he probably just always wants me to remain single he just wants me focused on him he doesn't care that my desire is for love and for that other person in my life he just wants me focused on him he wants me to remain single or i'm stuck in this boring job god just wants to be me to be miserable this is my punishment i'm gonna always hate my job i'm never gonna have other opportunities because god doesn't want me to have them he's punishing me no god knows the desires of your heart and he wants to fulfill those desires for you he doesn't want you to be unhappy he doesn't want you to be unfulfilled he wants you to live a life of joy of happiness of fulfillment so many times we wonder like what's god's will in my life right have you ever asked yourself that question what's god's will how do i know what god wants for me how do i know the right answer well we have it right here in romans 12 1 and 2 we present ourselves to god allowing him to do the changing we recognize it's a process and the process starts by renewing our mind we need to saturate ourselves in the word and keep gathering together weekly and it's in that where he will reveal to us where we will know his good his perfect will for our lives church i can speak firsthand that the heart of pastor judd the heart of this staff team the heart of the volunteer team here at central is they want you to know that this place this church this should be the number one place you hear that change is possible no matter what you've done no matter where you've come from no matter how life's gotten a hold of you it doesn't matter how too far gone you think you are this should be the number one place that produces hope inside of you that you can change right why because we're teaching from here and that's the whole message here that's why we keep showing up we keep renewing our minds together pushing each other encouraging each other towards growth and change and we celebrate together the story of god's good and perfect will unfolding in our lives in fact you don't want to miss this next weekend pastor judd's going to be back and he's going to be preaching and kicking off a brand new series called we are family just show up for that get back here next weekend and then guess what show up the weekend after that and then show up the weekend after that we keep showing up together leaving our past in the past and focusing together on god's future for us right i'm gonna give you the the secret to growth and change and this is actually was socrates secret to growth and change here it is the secret to change focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new if you want to change don't put your energy on fighting the old put your energy on building the new and how do we build the new we let him do the changing we give our lives fully to him we don't get too hard on ourselves we realize it's a process but we stay hopeful that in him change is possible so present your life to god the one who can change your life which leads us to the next way to help us grow and that's to use your change use your change after paul gives us the way that god can start transforming us in verses 1 and 2 of romans 12 he starts to give us the way god can start using us in verses 4 5 and 6. check out what these verses tell us it says just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function so it is with christ's body we are many parts of one body and we all belong to each other in his grace god has given us different gifts for doing certain things well basically what paul's saying what he's implying is that church this church this community of faith is like a human body and just like the body has eyes it has ears it has fingers and all the parts each have their own jobs they also all work together he's saying the church is just like that we all have different talents we all have different abilities that god has given us he has uniquely given each of us spiritual gifts some of us would form the function of an eye some of us would form the function of a hand or a foot but each one of us in this body has our role in furthering his kingdom and the body cannot not function well without all of its working parts another analogy i like to use is i have this toolbox with me on stage and if you know anything about tools and toolboxes a toolboxes toolbox is only as effective as the tools that you have in it because every job whether big or small comes down to using the right tool for examples of some tools i have in this toolbox which i keep in my office as a metaphor an example for these exact verses right here one example is i have a hammer i have a level here i have a screwdriver now if you wanted to unscrew something you wouldn't reach for the hammer right no you would reach for the screwdriver the hammer has its specific function that it was created for the screwdriver has it the screwdriver is made to unscrew things the hammer's made to hammer if you were going to hammer something you wouldn't grab the level would you to hammer it well this could be a bad example because maybe actually you would have you ever gone to ham or something you already have that nail in place the right spot the hammer's either too far or you're too lazy to go get the hammer so you just use a water bottle a book a level whatever it is well so we all know though that a level is at its best when it's leveling things when it's being used for its specific function and so on for each one of the tools in this toolbox so if we want to be used specifically for the reason that we were created for we use our abilities that we were created for right each one of us who have committed our lives to jesus we have spiritual gifts god's given to you them to you this is good news you have gifts and abilities you are a tool in the carpenter's toolbox and he wants to use you you weren't deemed unworthy you weren't left out you have god-given gifts you have god-given abilities and here's the deal the only way this church will ever reach its full potential it will ever reach its full potential as if you use your unique gifts and talents you use them in your life you use them in your job you use them in your family and you use them in this church there are things that you can do that us hammers just cannot do there are things that you can do that those of us who are screwdrivers we can't do god has specifically gifted you you to serve a purpose furthering his kingdom and as we all use our talents god's glorified and amazing things can happen it's how we grow i also think it's important to realize and remember that imperfect people use their change oftentimes i think after uh we hear that we can use our gifts we can use our abilities we often have the thought you know when i get my life together then i'll use my change once i get perfect then i'll be ready for god to use you to for god to use me and i'm here to tell you that's not the case that's simply not the case god is ready to use you right now you look through the bible and god uses imperfect broken hurting people all throughout the pages of the bible and they do some pretty incredible things this pastor wrote this piece on some of the characters the bible and their perceived flaws and you might not recognize all the names but you'll at least get the point he said moses stuttered and struggled with anger hosea's wife was a prostitute solomon was too rich and abraham was too old david was too young timothy had ulcers peter was afraid of death lazarus was dead john was self-righteous naomi was a widow paul was a murderer jonah ran from god miriam was a gossip gideon and thomas they both doubted jeremiah was depressed and suicidal elijah was burnt out john the baptist was a loudmouth and martha was a worrywart god has used and will always use imperfect people because guess what there is no such thing as a perfect person so disqualifying yourself because you think you're not ready to be used that's not god god's not whispering that that's the enemy the enemy says you're not worthy jesus says so what i am i am worthy and i have them covered growth is being used by god regardless of where you find yourself right now he can use you as you are in your brokenness in your messed up situation he can use you to make make an impact on other people do you know the greatest lesson that we can learn when it comes to our unique gifting in the body of christ how we're used in the church body is that it's not really about us at all it's about god and if you really believe that then you realize that it's not about us in the sense that it's not about how talented we are it's not about how good we are or how perfect we may feel or not feel it's not about us it's about him it's about those around us that don't know him yet our responsibility is to leverage our gifts for god's glory to make a difference in other people's lives for his glory that's how we grow if you feel god putting on your heart that you want to be used to serve others through this church if you feel god tugging at your heart right now that's the holy spirit trying to get a hold of you saying use your change and don't miss this don't miss this opportunity in fact we want to give you an opportunity to jump in and be able to serve here at central and we made it really easy this week all you got to do at some point throughout your week today whenever just go to central.family this is for those at live locations this is for those online there's lots of ways you can be used just go to central.family and hit the quick link volunteer with us and right there you can sign up and start being used start using your change right here in this in this church to serve others to make it about him and making about them we are given amazing opportunities in our life but if we don't act they're only wasted lessons we're given amazing opportunities but the problem is often we don't act so they're only wasted lessons where to act where to use our change we present our lives to god because he can change our life and then we are to use that change to serve him and to serve them to conclude today i want to read an article i ran across this last week when i was doing my olympic deep dive of an olympic athlete named yusra mardini yusra grew up in damascus syria where she learned to swim her father was on the national swim team where yusra had a passion and a dream to follow in his footsteps while she was competing in local swim competitions a civil war broke out in syria yusra continued to practice for competitions but it became more and more difficult to get ready due to the constant fighting that was going on all around her her family's home was destroyed her father was arrested and beaten but the breaking point was when an unexploded shell fell into a nearby pool she knew it was time to go in august 2015 yusra and her sister sarah they left the country and fled through turkey outside of turkey they boarded an overcrowded small boat bound for greece's aegean islands in hopes of achieving asylum then during the trip the motor of that boat suddenly cut out the small boat started to sink facing certain death both sisters jumped out and pushed the boat toward shore for three hours it says due to their quick thinking and use of swimming training 20 people survived and were able to find new life in europe they saved 20 people and even through all that trauma all that suffering that that yustra went through she did not give up on her dream of becoming an olympic swimmer last week she competed in her second olympic games on the refugee olympic team she made it to the olympics that's amazing but here's the thing yusra will probably never be known for her gold medals at the olympics she will probably never be known for being the world's fastest swimmer the gold medals they're they're not her purpose because she had a bigger purpose her will to never give up her hours of training her dreams her gifts her talents can all be summed up in a moment when her talent was more about others than it was about herself her purpose was to rescue our purpose can be to rescue growth is about going from a mindset of what's in it for me to one of how do i help them it's time to graduate church it's time to take it to the next level how do we start growing earlier i gave you the first five steps to becoming an olympic athlete let's look at the first five steps and how we can grow first we assess our spiritual gifting assess your spiritual gifting how has god uniquely gifted you what gifts and talents has he given you specifically next choose to let him renew your mind it's personal not because we do the changing but because we give our lives to him to do the changing prepare yourself that it's a process you don't all of a sudden arrive at a new way to think be easy on yourself changing and growing is a process but keep your hope that he has the best for you and his will is perfect and good and pleasing and it is possible for you to know that will and then lastly have a rescue mindset it's about him and it's about them it's not about us it's not about us isaac newton said it best in his first law of motion he said everything continues in a state of rest until it's compelled to change by forces and pressed upon it everything continues in a state of rest until it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it let me ask you what's impressing upon you is it the world there's a lot that can be impressing upon us right addictions struggling marriages broken relationships depression hurt bad habits hang-ups the world will try to oppress impress itself upon us and squeeze everything out of us but we don't have to let it we can let god impress his perfect will upon us to shape us to grow us and not only grow us but to use us if we want to see god's will his perfect will played out in our lives it's right here it's right there present your life to god the one who can change your life and for some today you're ready to start growing in jesus you're ready to start having him change your life you're ready to start the process by giving your life to him by naming him your lord and savior maybe you've never had this opportunity before maybe you've resisted this opportunity in the past but right now you're ready to say god i'm ready for you to start changing my life or maybe you're ready to rededicate your life to him right now if you're ready for god to start doing the changing in your life i'm going to give you the opportunity to right now so if everyone would bow their heads close their eyes and all you have to do is just say this prayer after me just say god i love you i know that i'm a sinner but i know that you sent jesus into this world to forgive me of those sins he died a death on that cross he didn't deserve for me but he rose from that grave and now i want to ask forgiveness of those sins i want to name you jesus my personal lord and savior come into my life and start transforming my life in church i want to ask you if you prayed that prayer for the first time if you just named jesus your lord and savior or you rededicated your life to him would you just slip your hand in the air just saying before me making it all the more real to yourself that you're gonna start living for him that you named him your personal lord and savior thank you for those hands thank you thank you for that bravery just slipping your hand in the air just naming this moment before him god i thank you for these hands i ask that you just pour out your love on their lives father showing them that change is possible through you and you do that for everyone in the room everyone online right now father that's hearing this message that you just pour out your love on them father we're so thankful that we don't have to do the changing that you do the changing for us transform our lives and let us use our change to make a difference in your kingdom we give it all to you it's in your name we pray amen well church family let's give it up for those that made decisions today for those that recommitted their life to christ hey if that's you we want to let you know that here at central we have a tool just to help you get started it partners with the bible and it's a as a guide of how to follow jesus guide all you have to do to access it it's free it's just go to central.family hit the quick link i've decided to follow jesus well what an incredible experience now remember we go live every weekend and it's a great way to meet and interact with so many of the central family now as you go on throughout this week make sure you hang on to romans 8 that says if god is for us who can be against us we'll see you next time

Channel: Central Church

Views: 752

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: central church, central online, central live, drew bodine, it's okay to not be okay, pastor jud wilhite, jud wilhite, Sermons, online church, easter at central, christmas at central, first step, celebrate recovery, groups, central youth, cy nights, cy, mancave, girls night out, me time, hope for the city, central academy, faith

Id: v3r66e-cph4

Length: 69min 35sec (4175 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 01 2021